New government maps present almost the entire West is in drought and it isn’t even summer but: “This is unprecedented”

In an unprecedented transfer, Southern California officials declared a water shortage emergency and requested roughly 6 million residents to limit all outdoor watering to only once a week.  

"We knew climate change would stress our water provides and we have been preparing for it but we didn't know it might occur this fast," stated Gloria Grey, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors.  

The newest authorities maps show nearly the entire West is in drought, and 95% of California is suffering extreme or extreme drought.

"That is actual. That is severe. This is unprecedented," stated Adel Hagekhalil, general supervisor for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  

California will not be alone as reservoirs throughout the West are draining.  

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the nation fashioned by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, needs a new pump to make sure water can stream to Las Vegas. 

"The problem with local weather change is that it takes all of the historic patterns and sort of shifts them," NASA scientist Dr. JT Reager advised CBS Information' Ben Tracy. 

Reager mentioned the West is in a 22-year megadrought, as local weather change makes it hotter and drier. 

"We're simply beginning to see the dominoes fall. It is drier, we're starting to see much less water in our reservoirs, and we've got fires, and in California, there's just this sequence of penalties that we anticipate," stated Reager.